Found more new customers than AT&T

If you are among the handful of people with an Android phone or tablet running Android v.4 (also known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’), Time Warner Cable’s latest version of its TWC TV for Android app introduces live streaming video.

Available as of 3pm ET this afternoon from the Google Play store, TWC TV for Android finally brings streaming video to an app that used to only allow Android owners to browse an online program guide and remotely manage their DVR boxes.  Time Warner Cable originally introduced its TV Everywhere streamed video service on Apple’s iPad.

But the company’s decision to limit streamed video only to the latest Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is a major disappointment and will leave a lot of Android owners with a hobbled app.

“It’s currently the only version of the Android OS that allows us the security and stability necessary to distribute video over our private network,” claims Time Warner Cable’s Jeff Simmermon. “But it’s up to the device manufacturer and the sometimes the data carrier when or if ICS will be deployed to a particular device.”

Simmermon suggested the iOS platform developed by Apple was easier to contend with because one company developed the operating system and the devices on which it operates.

If you upgrade to the latest version of TWC TV for Android running on a non-ICS phone, a notification warns that live streamed video remains unavailable to you, leaving the app about as useful as its earlier version, which is to say not very.  Simmermon also warns the upgrade is not available to “rooted” devices.

Smartphones purchased within the last year are likely to receive eventual upgrades to ICS, although exactly when depends on your wireless carrier.  Older phones may or may not receive upgrades.  As a general rule, the older the device, the less likely the manufacturer will be willing to keep upgrading it.

While your phone company refuses to provide you with better than 3Mbps DSL, Verizon Communications is set to unveil its fastest broadband network yet — targeting Wall Street traders.

Verizon Financial Services is upgrading fiber between New York and Chicago and replacing routers, cutting round trip communications to as little as 14.5 milliseconds — 5 milliseconds faster than Verizon’s current network.

Why the need for speed?

To cut trading time to the bare minimum.  The Wall Street Journal reports that even shaving a few milliseconds off deals can mean the difference of millions of dollars.

As Wall Street and other commodities exchanges become increasingly automated, new opportunities to take advantage of tiny price fluctuations that occur over fractions of seconds can earn traders enormous profits from volume trading.  High frequency trading now represents more than half the volume on the U.S. stock exchanges.

Pricing for the new service was not available at press time.

A man claiming to represent Comcast talked his way into a Huntsville, Ala. woman’s home last Wednesday, claiming he had to work with the cable line and do something about a bulk package. After gaining entry, he groped the woman, who was home alone.

“He decided when it was time to go he was going to try to put his hands on my breasts, and I told him that has nothing to do with Comcast – get out,” the woman told WAFF-TV in Huntsville. “Then he put his hands on my shoulders and sat me down in the chair like he was about to give me a massage and then touched my breasts. I said, ‘No, you have to get out.'”

The woman thought the man was a legitimate Comcast employee because he had company paperwork and seemed extremely knowledgeable about the company’s products and prices.  After she threw him out, he returned hours later, getting into what the woman thought was a personal vehicle.

“I didn’t know what to think but now looking back on it, I feel stupid because I’m always telling my friends check IDs, check their badge,” the woman told the station. “Look what happened to me.”

Comcast told the station they were cooperating with local authorities and shared this statement:

If anyone receives an unexpected visit by an individual claiming to be a Comcast representative, identification should be requested prior to allowing entry into the home. All Comcast employees and representatives are required to carry company-issued identification.

If there is any suspicion of a potential scam or other questions, the homeowner should call 1-800-COMCAST immediately to verify legitimacy.

Most telecommunications companies that do in-home work require employees to have clearly visible photo identification with the company logo.  Most companies will not send a repair person to a customer’s home without an appointment, although repair crews may conduct work outside of the home on nearby poles without prior notice.  If an unexpected technician arrives at your door, ask the individual to display credentials through a nearby window or peephole.  Call the provider for verification, and do not open your door until appropriate verification has been obtained.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WAFF Huntsville Woman groped by man claiming to be with Comcast 4-16-12.mp4[/flv]

WAFF in Huntsville talked with a local woman who was groped by a man claiming to work for Comcast Cable.  (Warning: Loud Volume) (4 minutes)

Schuyler County

The fastest thing in Schuyler County, N.Y., isn’t broadband — it’s the Watkins Glen International speedway.

County officials hope to change that, voting unanimously this month to approve an agreement with the Southern Tier Network to bring a regional fiber optic system into the county.

The not-for-profit local development corporation established to build and manage the regional fiber network doesn’t sit well with some county residents, however, including one retired Verizon employee who dismissed the project.

Odessa resident Karen Radenberg called fiber optics technology “old school” and said no private company will connect to the fiber network to expand broadband service.

Radenberg urged the county to consider that communications companies have now moved on to using 4G wireless technology instead of fiber.

“That’s ridiculous,” countered Legislature Chairman Dennis Fagan (R-Tyrone).

Fagan

Fagan pointed to nearby Ontario County’s fiber middle-mile and institutional network which has signed companies, including Verizon, as customers.  Verizon reportedly uses the Ontario County network to deliver backhaul connectivity to its cell tower network in the area.  Ontario County is served by several different landline companies including Frontier Communications, Verizon, and Windstream.  Time Warner Cable is the dominant cable provider, but large sections of the county are deemed too rural for cable television service.

Fagan said the new fiber network will improve the chances private companies will expand broadband across the county, but also help deliver an important upgrade to the region’s emergency responder communications system.  The extremely hilly terrain across much of the southern tier creates problems because of signal gaps.  The new fiber network will allow the county to build radio repeaters into areas where the existing network of microwave communications towers cannot reach.

Schuyler County currently has no plans to sell Internet connectivity to the public, but hopes existing private cable and phone companies — including Time Warner Cable and Verizon Communications — will consider utilizing the network to expand service.  Neither company has shown much interest expanding service to new areas recently, most likely because expansion costs will not be recouped fast enough.

If the county network reduces the cost to expand service, more homes and businesses may now fall within a “Return on Investment” formula that could mean the difference between broadband and dial-up.

She’s back and wants to “set the record straight.”

T-Mobile’s familiar ad star is dropping her amazing pink dresses like these 2024 short pink prom dresses for some get-tough biker leather in a new series of commercials for the wireless carrier.

Canadian actress-model Carly Foulkes has appeared in “approachable”-wear designed by Debra LeClair since 2010, mostly chiding competitors like AT&T for tricky fees and “gotchas” that T-Mobile doesn’t charge. Typically amused by the antics of other wireless carriers, she promised relief for customers switching to T-Mobile’s value-oriented wireless plans.

Nearly a year after the failed merger-buyout by AT&T was first announced, T-Mobile this week unveils a “brand refresh” that promises wireless customers it is back in the fight for their business.  Traditionally, T-Mobile has positioned itself as a low-cost, value-oriented provider.  Often, the company’s service plans and pricing have forced other wireless carriers to follow suit.  AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile would have eliminated that aggressive pricing.

T-Mobile will spend millions on the new ad campaign.

In the first ad in the series, Foulkes metaphorically tears up T-Mobile’s image over the past year, perceived as supine as the company waited to be absorbed into AT&T’s empire.  Ripping through her closet, Foulkes emerges in black leather and hops on board a motorcycle, demanding that visitors test-drive T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds against AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

Before her biker phase

T-Mobile’s year-long courting by AT&T cost the company plenty.

At last 802,000 contract customers fled T-Mobile for the competition, many for Sprint and Verizon, some only to avoid dealing with AT&T.

Others left because T-Mobile is the last major carrier still not offering Apple’s popular iPhone.  

The company promises to invest at least $200 million in advertising its comeback and is keeping Foulkes front and center.  In fact, outside of Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now” campaign which ran for a decade, ending last April, no spokescharacter has proved as recognizable as Foulkes.

The motorcycle theme will focus viewers on T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds.  Customers perceived that T-Mobile stopped upgrading and expanding its network while it pursued a merger with AT&T.

T-Mobile continues to claim it operates the nation’s largest 4G network, operating with HSPA+ technology.

T-Mobile’s “4G” network does deliver speed improvements over 3G, but some have dubbed HSPA+ “3.5G,” because resulting speeds usually cannot compete with 4G LTE technology.

T-Mobile plans to spend $1.4 billion to build its own LTE network to launch in 2013.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/T-Mobile Relaunch Ad.flv[/flv]

T-Mobile’s “brand refresh” starts with this ad, “No More Mr. Nice Girl.”  (1 minute)